I would like to start by apologizing for my absence from the cat blogosphere. I have not forgotten any of you, but found it near impossible for me to keep up with everything else going on. As some of you may have even noticed I took the blog down. But something has happened as some of you may have already heard that has prompted me to post.
As many of you know, Tygana was diagnosed with CRF, high blood pressure and a heart murmur roughly 8 months ago. He began taking meds for his high blood pressure, calcitriol and receiving subcutaneous fluids for his CRF. He started out doing quite well and even gained a bit of weight as we began to gain control over his condition.
Tygana was receiving 75ml of lactated ringers every other day, a calcitriol pill and high blood pressure pill daily. In his bloodwork his numbers never got back to normal but we got close, which was good enough for us.
About 4 months later Tygana lost his appetite for his prescription food. He was an interesting eater because unlike most cats he would get tired of eating the same thing after so many months, to let you know he would not eat, but if you presented him with something new he would devour it. So I switched his wet food back to his old food but he continued to have prescription dry food, he never get tired of that cause he did not eat it often.
Over the next 4 months we would be switching his food often as he became quite the picky eater. 3 months later he began to lose weight again, I tried upping his intake to get him to gain but he just did not have that strong of an appetite.
Still fairly active and playing around with his brother I did not think way too much of it, just that he was incapable of eating too much cause it makes him uncomfortable or something.
This past week is where things got weird. It all happened so fast, he got even thinner, began to eat less, started taking naps in the bathtub, got less active. We scheduled him a vet appointment to get him checked up. The days before his appointment he completely stopped eating, barely drank and chose a room that he would not leave except to go sit in the bathtub or on the toilet. He stopped cleaning himself, had an awful smell. I wiped him with a damp cloth but the smell was coming from his mouth I looked inside and his teeth were fine, gums looked all right, his balance was starting to get thrown off.
I was terrified to take him to the vet, for fear they might say what I was thinking in the back of my head. What I really wanted was some kind of new suggestion, pill, suspension or injection that might bring my little guy back.
The vet looked him over...he was very dehydrated, his body couldn't hold on to any fluids including his lactated ringers it all went straight through him, his kidneys were done. The smell was toxins in his body his kidneys were no longer processing, they were coming out through his mouth. He didn't fight anything the vet did, he didn't have the energy his muscles had begun to atrophy as his body was eating his muscles to sustain his day to day life.
Of course I did not get the hopeful answers I was looking for, the vet suggested it was his time and gave me time alone with him to think it over and call someone if I needed to. I called his previous owner and let her come to say goodbye, she was holding him saying goodbye and in his last physical act jumped from her arms to my lap. I gave him some last cuddles before our final moments together. The decision was made to help Tygana to the rainbow bridge, I stayed with him petting his head and whispering in his ear. I stayed with him for a while afterwards and finally was able to pull myself away.
Pepper finally this morning realized that tygana is not around, he looked for him a bit but has relaxed. He will probably be off and on like this for a bit. Waking up this morning was terribly hard because tygana is usually right there waking me up, clawing me in the face to be exact. It's hard to look around and see all the stuff I got for him, the pictures of him on the wall.
I miss him terribly.
I know many of you miss him as well and I'm sorry we have not been around. Feel free to leave any messages for tygana here.
03 November, 2011
10 April, 2011
Polydactyl!!!
Hi everyone!
Just wanted to let you all know Tygana is doing well!
His creatinine level went down which is absolutely wonderful and he is eating well!
Now the only thing to tackle is smaller needles! These 18g I got from the vet...HUGE, poor guy.
Pepper takes advantage of the situation occasionally and has developed his indoor cat pouch....coming in at a whopping 13lbs! But really he is just a large cat long legs, body everything.
So I have been doing a lot of reading lately and wanted to let you all in on something you may or may not know!!
Polydactyl cats!!!!
As you know my precious Tygana is a thumbcat
(I got that from this adorable english commercial!!! Why we dont have commercials like that in the states...I will never know)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6CcxJQq1x8&feature=player_embedded
In the US polydactyl cats are more common north of boston, ma to halifax canada...in fact one in ten cats in this region are polydactyl! Their ancestors are from southern england!
Cat from around the NY come from the ancestry of cats from amsterdam and the netherlands!
Isn't that crazy....so close yet so far away!!!
I got this from Cats: visual reference guide!
Just wanted to let you all know Tygana is doing well!
His creatinine level went down which is absolutely wonderful and he is eating well!
Now the only thing to tackle is smaller needles! These 18g I got from the vet...HUGE, poor guy.
Pepper takes advantage of the situation occasionally and has developed his indoor cat pouch....coming in at a whopping 13lbs! But really he is just a large cat long legs, body everything.
So I have been doing a lot of reading lately and wanted to let you all in on something you may or may not know!!
Polydactyl cats!!!!
As you know my precious Tygana is a thumbcat
(I got that from this adorable english commercial!!! Why we dont have commercials like that in the states...I will never know)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6CcxJQq1x8&feature=player_embedded
In the US polydactyl cats are more common north of boston, ma to halifax canada...in fact one in ten cats in this region are polydactyl! Their ancestors are from southern england!
Cat from around the NY come from the ancestry of cats from amsterdam and the netherlands!
Isn't that crazy....so close yet so far away!!!
I got this from Cats: visual reference guide!
31 March, 2011
Tygana Update
There's my brave little guy.
Tygana has been doing quite well with his Sub-Q's. We also got in his drinkwell 360 and it has definitely helped him to drink more, the first night I saw him stop at it at least twice and drink for literally 4 minutes.
So I think we have his fluids all set and ready. He has been having some stomach acid problems so he is on Pepcid AC.
Our big problem now is his appetite.
Poor little guy has barely been eating for days now, I've been keeping the vet up to date on this and today we were prescribed an appetite stimulant. Since taking it he's eaten some fancy feast not much but it's a start to me!
I ordered a baby scale so I can monitor his weight better.
Here's hoping he gains a nice appetite!
27 March, 2011
Thank you so much for the purrs and grrs!
Hi kitties we love the support the CB offers! Thought we would give you an update.
Tygana got another blood panel ran on friday, I got a call from the vet yesterday afternoon.
His BUN levels went down but his creatinine went up, from 2.9 to 4.3 I believe.
The vet has suggested beginning him on calcitrol and sub-q fluids. So monday we are heading over there to pick up his supplies for the sub q's and learn to administer them and they are going to put in the order for calcitrol.
I know many kitties do wonderfully on sub-q's and they make a world of difference but I also know that not all cats are the same, so we are on edge here until we can see how he is going to do on them. Of course we pray for the best!
Until then we are just going to constantly refresh his water and try and tempt him to drink.
Can't wait for his Drinkwell 360 stainless to get in!
Tygana got another blood panel ran on friday, I got a call from the vet yesterday afternoon.
His BUN levels went down but his creatinine went up, from 2.9 to 4.3 I believe.
The vet has suggested beginning him on calcitrol and sub-q fluids. So monday we are heading over there to pick up his supplies for the sub q's and learn to administer them and they are going to put in the order for calcitrol.
I know many kitties do wonderfully on sub-q's and they make a world of difference but I also know that not all cats are the same, so we are on edge here until we can see how he is going to do on them. Of course we pray for the best!
Until then we are just going to constantly refresh his water and try and tempt him to drink.
Can't wait for his Drinkwell 360 stainless to get in!
25 March, 2011
How things are going for us
Hi my lovely friends!
I know we talk and talk and talk about getting back into blogging but things just keep coming up.
We have news.
A couple weeks ago now I think Alex and I noticed Tygana running into walls we immediately got him an appt.
He has a partially detached retina most likely caused by high blood pressure.
He had been losing weight lately as well and they suspected hyperthyroidism.
We ran a blood panel on him and started him on blood pressure meds.
Tygana does not have hyperthyroidism but instead he has CRF (chronic renal failure) he is stage 3 if you are familiar with the stages.
So he is on a prescription diet (Hill's K/D) now which Pepper apparently loves, I just can't seem to keep him away from it!
We had a re-exam today and his blood pressure has gone down 100points, but it is still high we're hoping it goes down more.
Some of his sight has returned it's not perfect (well it hasnt been perfect in ages but better than no sight)
They also drew blood and going to run tests on his kidneys again and we are also going to have a urinalysis.
In other news Pepper is in fantastic health!
So if it wouldn't be too much to ask we are asking for your purrayers and thoughts that Tygana be as stable as possible for as long as possible. Because CRF cats can live happy lives too! We just don't want his numbers jumping!
Thanks everyone and we will try to keep you posted!
Also if any of you bloggers have CRF or have experience with a rainbow bridge kitty who had CRF we would love to hear from you!!
I know we talk and talk and talk about getting back into blogging but things just keep coming up.
We have news.
A couple weeks ago now I think Alex and I noticed Tygana running into walls we immediately got him an appt.
He has a partially detached retina most likely caused by high blood pressure.
He had been losing weight lately as well and they suspected hyperthyroidism.
We ran a blood panel on him and started him on blood pressure meds.
Tygana does not have hyperthyroidism but instead he has CRF (chronic renal failure) he is stage 3 if you are familiar with the stages.
So he is on a prescription diet (Hill's K/D) now which Pepper apparently loves, I just can't seem to keep him away from it!
We had a re-exam today and his blood pressure has gone down 100points, but it is still high we're hoping it goes down more.
Some of his sight has returned it's not perfect (well it hasnt been perfect in ages but better than no sight)
They also drew blood and going to run tests on his kidneys again and we are also going to have a urinalysis.
In other news Pepper is in fantastic health!
So if it wouldn't be too much to ask we are asking for your purrayers and thoughts that Tygana be as stable as possible for as long as possible. Because CRF cats can live happy lives too! We just don't want his numbers jumping!
Thanks everyone and we will try to keep you posted!
Also if any of you bloggers have CRF or have experience with a rainbow bridge kitty who had CRF we would love to hear from you!!
16 January, 2011
Snowed In!
More fun all the time. Even through all this snow!!!
As you all know we got hit pretty good here in New England!
As you all know we got hit pretty good here in New England!
Roughly 20 inches of the white gunk at our house!!
I mean this woofie can barely get through the white stuff!
So besides trying to stay warm here's some other things we have been up to!
Mom got this really neato apple peeler at Dad's side of the family yankee swap.
(*for those of you who don't know what a yankee swap is (don't worry Mom didn't either) it's where everyone brings a gift and you play a game where you each get a number and then pick a gift and as turns come people can steal your gift or open a new one)
She got this AMA-zing mixer from here lovely Dad!
This super awesome zoom lens for her camera from our Dad! She was so excited even in the winter cause all the birdies!
Not to mention Mom has some sort of crafting disease I mean look at all this crap, though she does make us and our cousins toys.
Don't even think thats all the yarn sitting around that tub is full and 2 tote bags, gah such a waaste I could get more temptations with that!
I have this amazing new window seat I would like to share with you next time and Pepper has a neat new spot for his feathery butt as well. Hope you all have less snow than I do!!
I mean this woofie can barely get through the white stuff!
So besides trying to stay warm here's some other things we have been up to!
Mom got this really neato apple peeler at Dad's side of the family yankee swap.
(*for those of you who don't know what a yankee swap is (don't worry Mom didn't either) it's where everyone brings a gift and you play a game where you each get a number and then pick a gift and as turns come people can steal your gift or open a new one)
She got this AMA-zing mixer from here lovely Dad!
This super awesome zoom lens for her camera from our Dad! She was so excited even in the winter cause all the birdies!
Not to mention Mom has some sort of crafting disease I mean look at all this crap, though she does make us and our cousins toys.
Don't even think thats all the yarn sitting around that tub is full and 2 tote bags, gah such a waaste I could get more temptations with that!
12 January, 2011
What WAS Than Gift?
Drumroll please.
Our most exciting gift!
Ladies and Gentlemen...we present to you. Litter Robot.
What a wonderful little invention, we even took to it rather quickly!
Mom at first set it up in place of Peppers regular box and left mine for us to use at will.
I mean we each had our "own" box but could often be found using each others box.
It took Pepper no time at all to investigate but he didn't feed that monster. I on the other stayed back a while as I assessed it's behavior.
I found Mom in the bathroom one day feeding the monster some stuff from out of our box.....weird woman.
After a few weeks we were using the LR pretty regularly so Mom took out the old box, we now use it exclusively and love how clean it stays! As you can see we are still on Worlds Best Cat Litter. We did not get the expanded globe design, just the regular one.
I fit in it just dandy I go inside and do my business head and everything in. Pepper on the other hand does stick his head out while in use. The bottom interior is like a very thick and strong rubber type material , we do scratch at the litter and such to cover it up but in Mom investigations of the machine we have not ruined the integrity of the lining or even left any type of significant scratches.
These are the waste ports, when the LR turns the dirty litter gets thrown out of these holes into the bottom compartment, see the smeary looking stuff? Thats what happens if your a bit late changing the bag. Shame on you Mommy! Though it wipes up really easily if you catch it in time.
This is what Mommy calls her favorite feature. This is the drawer into which all our waste is tossed, it's quite large! The LR doesn't use any special bags though they do sell their own bags with the cute little logo on it and you get three of those when you receive your new LR. Ours is now being equipped with regular old 13 gallon trash bags, LR suggests 10 gallon for the lower price point but Mom didn't see any at the store. (so instead she picked up about 75 bags for $3)
The bags are held in place with those little holes you stick the bag in like the clorox swiffer type mops use. So far in roughly a month of having the LR Mom has changed our bag twice, because someone.......not to name names because I'm a gentlecat......(pepper) was having some poopy issues. She's keeping track of how much litter we are using and how often she has to change it and plans on keeping you all in the know in case one of your little ones would like one as well.
This is the control panel. You can manually have the LR do a cycle, you can have it turn waste port up for easy filling access (Mom just chooses to do it from the cat entry hole though) you can have the LR dump out the remaining litter for a full refill. It does come with this plastic over the panel Mom chose to leave it on and LR suggests to leave it on as well in case of accidents so that your control board does not get fried by kitty pee. (if something terrible should happen like that you can buy a new board for $49)
It's so awesome! We love and so does Mom!
Our most exciting gift!
Ladies and Gentlemen...we present to you. Litter Robot.
What a wonderful little invention, we even took to it rather quickly!
Mom at first set it up in place of Peppers regular box and left mine for us to use at will.
I mean we each had our "own" box but could often be found using each others box.
It took Pepper no time at all to investigate but he didn't feed that monster. I on the other stayed back a while as I assessed it's behavior.
I found Mom in the bathroom one day feeding the monster some stuff from out of our box.....weird woman.
After a few weeks we were using the LR pretty regularly so Mom took out the old box, we now use it exclusively and love how clean it stays! As you can see we are still on Worlds Best Cat Litter. We did not get the expanded globe design, just the regular one.
I fit in it just dandy I go inside and do my business head and everything in. Pepper on the other hand does stick his head out while in use. The bottom interior is like a very thick and strong rubber type material , we do scratch at the litter and such to cover it up but in Mom investigations of the machine we have not ruined the integrity of the lining or even left any type of significant scratches.
These are the waste ports, when the LR turns the dirty litter gets thrown out of these holes into the bottom compartment, see the smeary looking stuff? Thats what happens if your a bit late changing the bag. Shame on you Mommy! Though it wipes up really easily if you catch it in time.
This is what Mommy calls her favorite feature. This is the drawer into which all our waste is tossed, it's quite large! The LR doesn't use any special bags though they do sell their own bags with the cute little logo on it and you get three of those when you receive your new LR. Ours is now being equipped with regular old 13 gallon trash bags, LR suggests 10 gallon for the lower price point but Mom didn't see any at the store. (so instead she picked up about 75 bags for $3)
The bags are held in place with those little holes you stick the bag in like the clorox swiffer type mops use. So far in roughly a month of having the LR Mom has changed our bag twice, because someone.......not to name names because I'm a gentlecat......(pepper) was having some poopy issues. She's keeping track of how much litter we are using and how often she has to change it and plans on keeping you all in the know in case one of your little ones would like one as well.
This is the control panel. You can manually have the LR do a cycle, you can have it turn waste port up for easy filling access (Mom just chooses to do it from the cat entry hole though) you can have the LR dump out the remaining litter for a full refill. It does come with this plastic over the panel Mom chose to leave it on and LR suggests to leave it on as well in case of accidents so that your control board does not get fried by kitty pee. (if something terrible should happen like that you can buy a new board for $49)
It's so awesome! We love and so does Mom!
11 January, 2011
Late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!
Happy New Year Everyone!
Our resolution: To get a minimum of one post a month up LOL better yet.....once a week!
How are all of you doing!?
Pepper and I have been doing pretty well, we swept this Christmas with some great swag!!
So since we have so much to tell you we're going to do it over multiple posts Get Ready!!
First off, us of course!
We totally scored with this huge box of temptations! It makes my mouth water just looking at it!
We also got this wonderful new table and box! (well Mom says she got the table, but I mean...it's totally ours just look at it.)
It comes with a really great view of the outside so with the chest freezer moved over theres plenty of vantage points of our outdoor territory for Pepper and I to share.
LOOK! Whats that over there!!!
Tygana: Oh it's just a sign of our biggest gift!!
Kindly from our Moms brother (Pepper: That makes him our Uncle right?)
Pepper: Wow that box is HUGE! It's half Moms height!
Tygana: Looks really heavy too.
Pepper: HAHHAA Mom can't pick it up! She's dragging it in!
Tygana: MOM! Don't drop it!!
*stay tuned tomorrow for the exciting conclusion!*
Our resolution: To get a minimum of one post a month up LOL better yet.....once a week!
How are all of you doing!?
Pepper and I have been doing pretty well, we swept this Christmas with some great swag!!
So since we have so much to tell you we're going to do it over multiple posts Get Ready!!
First off, us of course!
We totally scored with this huge box of temptations! It makes my mouth water just looking at it!
We also got this wonderful new table and box! (well Mom says she got the table, but I mean...it's totally ours just look at it.)
It comes with a really great view of the outside so with the chest freezer moved over theres plenty of vantage points of our outdoor territory for Pepper and I to share.
LOOK! Whats that over there!!!
Tygana: Oh it's just a sign of our biggest gift!!
Kindly from our Moms brother (Pepper: That makes him our Uncle right?)
Pepper: Wow that box is HUGE! It's half Moms height!
Tygana: Looks really heavy too.
Pepper: HAHHAA Mom can't pick it up! She's dragging it in!
Tygana: MOM! Don't drop it!!
*stay tuned tomorrow for the exciting conclusion!*
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